This patent application claims priority from Japanese patent applications Nos. 2002-82990 filed on Mar. 25, 2002 and 2003-60688 filed on Mar. 6, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for performing recording for recording medium or paper by emitting ink on the recording medium, such as an ink-jet type recording apparatus, and a liquid emitting apparatus for emitting liquid onto a medium to make the liquid adhere to the medium.
The term xe2x80x9cliquid emitting apparatusxe2x80x9d is used for referring not only to a recording apparatus, having an ink-jet type recording head for emitting ink from the recording head so as to perform recording for a recording medium, such as a printer, a copier and a facsimile machine, but also to an apparatus that causes liquid to adhere to a medium, corresponding to the recording medium in the above recording apparatus, by emitting the liquid selected depending on the use of the apparatus in place of the ink toward the medium from a liquid emitting head corresponding to the recording head in the above recording apparatus.
As the liquid emitting head, the following heads can be considered other than the above recording head: a color-material emitting head used for fabrication of a color filter for a liquid crystal display or the like, an electrode-material (conductive paste) emitting head used for forming an electrode in an organic EL display or a field-emission display (FED), a bioorganic compound emitting head used for fabrication of a bio-chip and a sample spraying head as a precision pipette.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an exemplary recording apparatus or liquid emitting apparatus is known an ink-jet type printer (hereinafter, referred to as a xe2x80x9cprinterxe2x80x9d). A typical printer is shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. The printer 200 includes a medium feeder 2 provided in the upstream of a transfer path for medium, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B. The medium feeder 2 holds one or more units of a medium, such as cut sheet or paper, that are stacked thereon to be at a certain angle with respect to the body of the printer and feeds one or more units of the medium one by one to the downstream of the feeding path. The printer 200 also includes: a carriage (not shown), arranged in the downstream of the feeder 2, for carrying a recording head mounted thereon that performs recording for the medium; and a transfer roller (not shown) for transferring the medium by rotating, which includes a transfer-driving roller and a transfer-driven roller.
The printer 200 is arranged to have the first and second transfer paths. On the first transfer path, one of more units of the medium, for example, one or more sheets of paper, that are stacked on the feeder 2 to be at a certain angle with respect to the body of the printer, are transferred toward the front side of the printer 200 one by one while being bent, so as to be discharged from the front side of the printer 200 in a substantially horizontal direction. On the second transfer path, a rigid medium that cannot be transferred on the above-mentioned first transfer path is substantially horizontally fed from the front side of the body 3 of the printer 200 so as to be discharged from the front side of the printer 200.
The second transfer path is used, for example, for performing recording for a rigid medium such as a CD-R (recordable compact disc). In this case, it is necessary to attach an exclusive discharge tray 202 that serves as a feeder tray used for manually feeding the rigid medium from the front side of the printer 200 toward the recording head and also serves as a discharge tray for receiving the rigid medium discharged after the recording, on the upper side of a discharge tray 201 that receives paper discharged after the recording.
Moreover, in order to perform recording for the rigid medium, it is necessary to adjust a distance between the rigid medium and the recording head by displacing the carriage for mounting the recording head thereon upward, thereby ensuring that the recording head is not in contact with the rigid medium. For achieving this object, the printer 200 includes a PG operation lever 203 for displacing a carriage guide axis to adjust a gap between the recording head and the recording medium. The PG operation lever 203 has to be operated by a user depending on the type of the medium, thus causing a trouble. In addition, even during a recording operation for the rigid medium, the PG operation lever 203 is operative. Thus, the PG operation lever 203 may be operated by an unexpected force so as to bring the carriage down, thereby bringing the recording head into contact with the rigid medium. In this case, the recording head may be damaged, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open 2002-192782, for example.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus and a liquid emitting apparatus, which are capable of overcoming the above drawbacks accompanying the conventional art. The above and other objects can be achieved by combinations described in the independent claims. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus and a liquid emitting apparatus that can ensures a distance between a recording head and a medium for which recording is performed in an appropriate manner and can perform high-quality printing. The dependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinations of the present invention.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a recording apparatus comprises: a feeder, provided in an upstream in a transfer path for transferring a medium, operable to feed the medium to a downstream in the transfer path one by one, the medium being stacked at an angle; a recording head, provided in the downstream of the feeder, operable to perform recording for the medium; a carriage, on which the recording head is mounted, operable to reciprocate in a main scanning direction along a carriage guide axis; a transfer roller operable to transfer the medium by rotating, the transfer roller including a transfer-driving roller and a transfer-driven roller; a stacker having a medium-placed surface, the stacker being positioned at a first position allowing the medium to be substantially horizontally fed from the medium-placed surface to a position under the recording head and be substantially horizontally discharged from the position under the recording head onto the medium-placed surface, or a second position operable to receive and stack the medium fed by the feeder, the second position being on a lower level than the first position, the medium-placed surface being arranged substantially horizontally when the stacker is positioned at the first position and is arranged at an angle when the stacker is positioned at the second position; and a first link mechanism operable to displace the stacker to cause the carriage guide axis to displace, wherein the carriage guide axis is arranged to be displaced upward when the stacker is positioned at the first position, and is prevented from moving downward as long as the stacker is positioned at the first position.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, a recording apparatus for performing recording for a first type of medium and a second type of medium comprises: a feeder, provided in an upstream in a transfer path for transferring the first type of medium, operable to feed the first type of medium to a downstream in the transfer path one by one, the first type of medium being stacked at an angle; a recording head, provided in the downstream of the feeder, operable to perform recording for the first type of medium and the second type of medium; a carriage, on which the recording head is mounted, operable to reciprocate in a main scanning direction along a carriage guide axis; a transfer roller operable to transfer the first type of medium by rotating, the transfer roller including a transfer-driving roller and a transfer-driven roller; a stacker having a medium-placed surface, the stacker being positioned at a first position allowing another transfer path for the second type of medium to be formed or at a second position, located on a lower level than the first position, operable to receive and stack the first type of medium, the medium-place surface being arranged substantially horizontally when the stacker is at the first position and is arranged at an angle when the stacker is at the second position, the another transfer path allowing the second type of medium to be straightly fed from the medium-placed surface to a position under the recording head and be straightly discharged from the position under the recording head onto the medium-placed surface; and a first link mechanism operable to displace the stacker to cause the carriage guide axis to displace, wherein the carriage guide axis is displaced upward when the stacker is positioned at the first position, and is prevented from moving downward as long as the stacker is positioned at the first position, and the second type of medium is suitable for substantially straight transfer.
According to conventional techniques, in order to perform for a rigid medium that cannot be fed by a feeder for feeding paper as a recording medium, such as a CD-R, it is necessary to attach an exclusive feed-discharge tray for rigid medium, that serves not only as a feed tray used for manually feeding the rigid medium from the front side of a printer toward a recording head but also as a discharge tray used for receiving the rigid medium discharged after recording, above a discharge tray for paper that is used for receiving the paper discharged after recording.
Moreover, in a case of recording for the rigid medium, it is necessary for a user to operate a PG operation lever for displacing the carriage guide axis so as to adjust a gap between the medium and the recording head. However, operating the PG operation lever depending on the type of recording medium causes a trouble. In addition, during the recording for the rigid medium, the PG operation lever may be operated by an unexpected force externally applied, causing a carriage to move down so as to come into contact with the rigid medium. This may leads to a damage of the recording head.
According to the present invention, the first link mechanism for displacing the carriage guide axis by displacing the stacker for the medium is provided. Thus, the recording for the rigid medium such as a CD-R can be performed easily without fail. More specifically, by displacing the stacker to the first position, that is a position for recording for the rigid medium, the carriage guide axis is also displaced upward. Therefore, the recording head and the rigid medium cannot be brought into contact with each other, eliminating the necessity of the conventional PG operation lever. This reduces the operations that the user has to do.
Moreover, according to the present invention, the carriage guide axis is displaced upward with the movement of the stacker to the first position, and is arranged not to move downward as long as the stacker is positioned at the first position. Thus, the contact between the rigid medium and the recording head can be prevented during the recording operation. Therefore, the recording head can be prevented from being damaged and the carriage guide axis can be prevented from being moved down by the unexpected force externally applied.
Furthermore, the stacker has a function of the conventional feed-discharge tray for rigid material. Thus, it is unnecessary to use the feed-discharge tray, reducing the cost. In addition, since it is unnecessary to store the feed-discharge tray when the tray is not used, eliminating the trouble required for storing the feed-discharge tray.
The recording apparatus may further comprise a transfer-driven roller switching mechanism operable to switch the state of the transfer-driven roller between a contact state in which the transfer-driven roller is in contact with the transfer-driving roller and a cleared state in which the transfer-driven roller is moved upward, by operating an operating unit to cause the transfer-driven roller to be displaced.
According to this feature, since the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism is provided for switching the state of the transfer-driven roller between the contact state and cleared state by operating the operating unit, in a case of recording for paper, the paper can be transferred without fail by bringing the transfer-driven roller into the contact state. Moreover, in a case of recording the rigid medium, the rigid medium can be supplied to the position under the recording head by bringing the transfer-driven roller into the cleared state, thereby performing the recording without fail.
The transfer-driven roller switching mechanism may be arranged to be driven only when the stacker is positioned at the first position.
In a case of recording for the rigid medium such as CD-R, the stacker is placed at the first position first. Then, a CD-R tray in which the CD-R is mounted is placed on the medium-placed surface that is the top surface of the stacker. The CD-R is then fed manually from the front side of the printer. However, if the transfer-driven roller is in the contact state where it is in contact with the transfer-driving roller at this time, it is not possible to transfer the CD-R because the rollers of the transfer roller cannot sandwich the CD-R tray.
According to the present invention, the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism can be driven only when the stacker is positioned at the first position. Thus, after the stacker has been displaced to the first position, the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism is driven to place the transfer-driven roller in the cleared state and thereafter the CD-R is manually fed. Then, at least after the transfer roller has been placed in a state where the rollers of the transfer roller can sandwich the CD-R tray, the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism is driven to bring the transfer-driven roller into the contact state. As a result, the CD-R tray can be transferred without fail, while being sandwiched by the rollers of the transfer roller.
The recording apparatus may further comprise a regulating mechanism operable to regulate the driving of the discharge-driven roller switching mechanism in accordance with the position of the stacker.
According to this feature, since the regulating mechanism is provided for regulating the driving of the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism depending on the position of the stacker, it is possible to prevent wrong operation by the user. Also, it is possible to perform recording under the optimum condition for each of many types of recording media without fail.
The regulating mechanism may be arranged to place the discharge-driven roller only in the contact state when the stacker is positioned at the second position.
When the stacker is positioned at the second position, the medium for which recording is performed is fed from the feeder provided on the backside of the printer, is transferred to be subjected to the recording. After the recording, the medium is discharged and stacked onto the medium-placed surface of the stacker. In other words, as long as the stacker is positioned at the second position, it is not necessary to place the transfer-driven roller of the transfer roller in the cleared state.
According to the present invention, the transfer-driven roller can be in the contact state only, when the stacker is positioned at the second position. Thus, the transfer-driven roller can be prevented from being placed in the cleared state by mistake. If the transfer-driven roller is placed in the cleared state by mistake, the medium fed from the feeder cannot be transferred because the rollers of the transfer roller cannot sandwich the medium. That is, according to the present invention, the medium fed from the feeder, i.e., paper, can be transferred toward the stacker without fail.
The recording apparatus may further comprise a returning mechanism operable to affect the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism to bring the transfer-driven roller in the contact state when the stacker is displaced to the second position, in a case where the stacker is positioned at the first position and the transfer-driven roller is in the cleared state.
When the stacker is positioned at the second position, paper as the medium is fed from the feeder is stacked onto the medium-placed surface of the stacker after recording. That is, as long as the stacker is positioned at the second position, the transfer roller cannot transfer the rigid medium. Thus, it is necessary to place the transfer-driven roller in the contact state, not in the cleared state.
Therefore, according to the present invention, since the aforementioned returning mechanism is provided for affecting the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism, the transfer-driven roller can be placed in the contact state without fail as long as the stacker is positioned at the second position.
For example, a case is considered where the stacker is moved to the second position in order to perform recording for the medium from the feeder after the stacker was positioned at the first position and the recording was performed for the rigid medium. In this case, when the transfer-driven roller is in the cleared state, the transfer of this medium from the feeder may not be performed in an appropriate manner. However, according to the present invention, such a disadvantage can be prevented, and it is possible to place the transfer-driven roller in the contact state without fail when the stacker is displaced to the second position.
The returning mechanism may be formed by the same component as that forming the regulating mechanism. According to this feature, the recording apparatus can be formed by a simple arrangement and a reduced number of parts, thereby making the design easier and reducing the cost.
The carriage guide axis may be supported at its axis ends by a frame via an eccentric mechanism, the first link mechanism may include an actuation member engaged with the stacker; and a power transmission member operable to be driven together with the actuation member to cause the eccentric mechanism to pivotally move, and a gap between the recording head and the first or second type of medium may be adjusted by displacing the carriage guide axis together with the displacement of the stacker. According to this feature, the carriage can be displaced without fail by a simple arrangement.
The transfer-driven roller may be supported by a roller holder in such a manner that a downstream part of the transfer-driven roller is pivotable around an upstream portion of the transfer-driven roller as a pivot center, and the transfer-driven roller switching mechanism includes a cam rotation axis having a cam capable of coming into contact with the roller holder, and switches the cleared state and the contact state of the transfer-driven roller in accordance with the pivot of the roller holder by means of a cam mechanism operable to bring the cam into contact with a cam follower and to move the cam away from the cam follower by operating the operating unit, the cam follower being arranged in the upstream of the roller holder. According to this feature, the state of the transfer-driven roller can be switched between the cleared state and the contact state without fail by the simple arrangement.
The actuation member may include a space therein and has an U-shape that becomes convex upward seen from the downstream of the transfer path, the operating unit being arranged within the space.
According to this feature, the space in the recording apparatus can be reduced. Moreover, it is possible to cause the actuation member to serve as the regulating mechanism for regulating the driving of the operating unit without fail by the simple arrangement.
The transfer-driven roller switching mechanism may be capable of being driven together with the movement of the first link mechanism. According to this feature, only by displacing the position of the stacker by the user, for example, it is possible to appropriately set the recording condition.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a liquid emitting apparatus comprises: a feeder operable to feed one or more units of a medium onto which liquid is to be emitted, one by one toward a downstream in a transfer path for transferring the medium, the feeder being provided in an upstream in the transfer path, the one or more units of the medium being stacked on the feeder at an angle; a liquid emitting head, provided in the downstream of the feeder, operable to emit the liquid; a carriage, on which the liquid emitting head is mounted, operable to reciprocate in a main scanning direction along a carriage guide axis; a transfer roller operable to transfer the medium by rotating, the transfer roller including a transfer-driving roller and a transfer-driven roller; a stacker, having a medium-placed surface, operable to be positioned at a first position allowing the medium from the medium-placed surface to be substantially horizontally fed to a position under the liquid emitting head and be substantially horizontally discharged from the position under the liquid emitting head onto the medium-placed surface, or at a second position for receiving the medium when the medium was fed by the feeder, the second position being located on a lower level than the first position, the medium-placed surface being arranged substantially horizontally when the stacker is positioned at the first position and is arranged at an angle when the stacker is positioned at the second position; and a first link mechanism operable to displace the stacker to cause the carriage guide axis to be displaced with the displacement of the stacker, wherein the carriage guide axis is arranged to be displaced upward when the stacker is positioned at the first position, and is prevented from moving downward as long as the stacker is positioned at the first position.
The summary of the invention does not necessarily describe all necessary features of the present invention. The present invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above. The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.